2011-01-10

Hawaiian chocolate cake

This is my obsession. Since I have made it, and ate it, I think about this cake at least few times a day. It is so rich, moist, warming, quite and simple. One of the best cakes I have ever tried, better even than Sacher torte, but this may be individual choice. It doesn't matter that it is not quite a dobosh cake. For in Hawaii, the rich chocolate cake, for which there are many recipes, simple and more elaborate ones, is originating from the Hungarian version but the method of cooking has been much simplified. For our pleasure!

The recipe I have used comes from Taste of the Pacific by Susan Parkinson, Peggy Stacy and Adrian Mattinson. I have modified it a bit. Try out the book, it is full of useful hints and really exotic and simple food for every occasion!

Hawaiian chocolate cake

0,5 cup cocoa powder

125 ml water

1,5 tsp baking soda

130 g butter

1,5 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 package of vanilla sugar

2 cups flour

0,5 cup potato starch

dash of salt

1 cup (400 g) kefir

1. Place cocoa powder, water and baking soda in a small pot and heat slowly. Mix until you get a smooth paste and cool down.

2. Sieve flour, starch and salt together.

3. Beat butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs, beating, and then the cooled chocolate mixture.

4. Gradually add flour and kefir, beating well.

5. Grease well two 23-cm cake tins, divide the batter.

6. Bake at 180 degrees for 35 minutes (no longer - it is meant to be that moist). The cake likes to rise as a dome so I cut out both tops and made the third layer of it, of course on cooling down.

7. Cool down for few minutes, then loose from the tins and cool on wire rack.

Easy chocolate frosting to finish:

2 cups icing sugar

0,5 cup cocoa powder

80 g butter

1 egg (optional)

60 ml milk

few drops of rum essence (optional)

Again, all you have to do, is to mix well all the ingredients in the above order and decorate the cake! And then you can enjoy the silence created by the table when you serve everyone his or her piece of Hawaii.